Safety Darren Sharper Making His Presence Felt As A New Orleans Saint

Darren Sharper, the leagues active career interception leader, was said to be too old to be an impact player and was cast off from the Vikings after the team favored starting younger talent ahead of him.

Did anyone bother to tell Darren Sharper that his best days were behind him?

Sharper felt otherwise and decided to leave for greener fields, confident in his abilities to bring another NFL team a Pro Bowl caliber safety.

It just so happened New Orleans was in the market for play makers on the defensive side of the ball after two disastrous seasons where the defense ranked at or near the bottom of the league in every category primarily resulting from the abysmal play of the secondary.

The Saints and new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams quickly zeroed in on Sharper in free agency to quarterback the Saints new look secondary and after a lengthy contract negotiation he was officially a Saint.

There has been no looking back  for Sharper who has practiced and played full speed for the Saints, so far only sitting out one pre-season game with a sore knee.

In two games this season Sharper has three picks, two against Detroiot and one against Philadelphia, for 176 interception yards and one touchdown.

The bulk of those yards came from the pick of Eagles QB Kevin Kolb which Sharper ran back 97 yards for the touchdown. He is currently tied for first in interceptions in the NFL with Oakland’s Michael Huff and is now tenth all time with 57.

Like I said previously, did anyone bother to tell Sharper he was washed up? Enough said.

Sharper’s ability inside Gregg Williams new defense is extraordinary and just what the Saints thought would happen, he is clearly the ball hawk of the team.

After 13 season in the NFL he has honed his craft to perfection and shows no signs of slowing any time soon. If  he can maintain this pace he is in-line for the best season of his career and certainly a Pro Bowl berth.

Sharper himself never doubted he could play to this level and said it all along through the pre-season to “wait and see what happens when the season starts” , that on top of guaranteeing at least nine interceptions.

Well the season has started and Sharper has not disappointed so far, at this pace he can easily make those nine innterceptions a reality.

So who got the better end of the deal, the Vikings or the Saints? Well that one is easy, the Saints.

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